NORFOLK — If you hear Old Dominion baseball players on the field barking and fussing at each other, don't assume that they dislike one another or that personality issues exist. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As the season progressed, some older players took it upon themselves to vocally police teammates for everything from lack of effort to sloppy execution to picking up balls and equipment.

"We're all best friends," first baseman Josiah Burney said. "If you just heard us, you'd go, wow, those guys are terrible toward each other. But right after the play, we explain it. It's like, hey, man, get after it. It's not personal and we realize that now. That's the maturity within the program and it's a great thing. We're headed in the right direction."

After an uneven first month, the Monarchs (22-15) settled into their first season in Conference USA. They are 10-8 in the league and have won their last four series, including last weekend's well-attended affair versus regional rival East Carolina at the Bud Metheny Complex.

"We've certainly showed we can compete with everybody in this league," coach Chris Finwood said. "I don't think there's any question about that. … I'm really proud of how our guys have competed. We haven't been intimidated by the league competition, by any means."

The Monarchs are scheduled to face William and Mary 7 p.m. Tuesday in a non-conference game at Plumeri Park in Williamsburg, weather permitting, followed by a three-game home series versus UT San Antonio Thursday through Saturday at the Bud.

ODU is tied for sixth in C-USA, with four series remaining. The top eight of 13 teams qualify for the conference tournament. The Monarchs already won series versus ECU and Florida International, teams near them in the standings, and thus hold the tiebreaker, for qualifying and seeding purposes. UTSA (24-12, 10-5 C-USA) is above them in the standings, and another series win would aid the cause.

"We're finding ways to win some ball games. We've been pitching pretty well for the most part, (Sunday) being the exception," Finwood said, referring to Sunday's 12-7 extra-inning loss to ECU to conclude the series. "We're finally, over the last few weeks, we started being better at getting big hits — getting hits with runners in scoring position."

ODU is fourth in the conference in team batting average (.284), second in runs (223) and second in hits (381). The Monarchs are 18th in the nation in fielding, with 33 errors in 37 games.

Sophomore P.J. Higgins leads the Monarchs in hitting (.346) and is one of five players with at least 20 runs and 15 runs batted in. Nick Walker, a freshman from Virginia Beach batting .309, provided a spark since he was inserted in the everyday lineup roughly a month ago. Taylor Ostrich (.317), a junior college transfer from Iowa, has swung a hot bat lately.

Finwood and the staff have settled on a weekend starting rotation of Andy Roberts, Ryan Yarbrough and Victor Diaz. Roberts (3-0, 2.77 ERA) and Yarbrough (4-4, 2.96 ERA) are senior lefthanders, and Diaz (1-2, 3.11 ERA), a redshirt junior, has been solid.

Burney may best personify the improvement within the program this season. The senior from Gloucester is batting .306 and leads the Monarchs in RBI (32), home runs (6), slugging percentage (.602) and on-base percentage among regulars (.422).

He is a career .263 hitter whose newfound discipline at the plate resulted in career numbers thus far.

"Every time I got in the box, I was thinking about way too much stuff over the years," he said. "I'm finally just going: Pick your foot up; put it down; see the ball; swing at a strike. It's all about swinging at strikes. I usually don't swing at strikes."

Batting cleanup, Burney is the only one of ODU's everyday players with more walks (21) than strikeouts (14). He was 8-for-13 with six runs and five RBI versus East Carolina.

"I'm really proud of Joey," Finwood said. "He has completely turned himself into a good hitter. He used to be a swinger. If you threw it up there, he was swinging at it. But now, he's taking his walks. He's laying off pitchers' strikes and the bad pitches, and he's getting good pitches to hit and he's hitting them hard. He's playing like you hope your seniors play, in a nutshell."

ODU played the 12th-toughest schedule in the nation, according to WarrenNolan.com, and is 32nd in baseball's Ratings Percentage Index. Fifteen of their 37 games have been decided by one or two runs. Bet on the players keeping each other sharp in the final month of the regular season.

"If you make a mistake when you shouldn't be making a mistake, somebody's going to let you know about it," Burney said. "You definitely don't want a teammate yelling at you. But it helps. That's what good teams do."

John Calipari has hair and does not chew on towels, and none of his players is likely to appear as Grandmama in a shoe company pitch. Otherwise, the parallels between Kentucky 2015 and Nevada-Las Vegas 1991 are striking.